these are the images girls world has been seeing from the streets of canada. trying to corporations rule the day. back to the big picture i'm tom hartman coming up in this half hour corporate america wants to reduce our students to simply being cogs in their profit machine but now one school is pushing back and boycotting corporate education reform at school story in just a moment and in the wake of the newtown tragedy more and more communities across america are holding gun fire back programs much to the chagrin of the n.r.a. we'll talk with florida congressman ted deutch about his efforts to make these programs stronger and to help get guns off our nation's streets and in tonight's

daily take the raging debate in washington over the debt ceiling may help to determine the short term fate of our nation but the battle over the long term future of our democracy is not being fought on capitol hill. and the best of the rest of the news teachers in seattle are fed up with the corporate school reform agenda and are standing up against standardized testing nearly entire teaching faculty at garfield high school announced they will not teach or administer a new standardized test for ninth graders known as the map measures of academic progress teachers say such standardized testing is a waste of time and money second school is even expected to join the boycott and it is in a statement about their decision the teachers said after this there are review we have all come to the conclusion that we cannot in good conscience subject our

students to this test again under george w. bush the use of standardized testing to judge progress in our schools exploded despite little to no evidence that these tests are actually good measures of how well a student is learning in reale. the all these tests do is enrich corporate executives like george w. bush's brother neil who sell these standardized tests to schools so our teachers in seattle now is showing us the way to fight back against the profiteers who want to turn our school kids in a profit tools joining me now is chris mcbride academic dean and testing coordinator at garfield high school in seattle washington chris welcome. thank you so much for having me thanks for joining us what what motivated you to start this boycott of standardized testing. actually it was my teachers teachers in the math and language arts department we've been talking about this for two years this is not new and finally the straw that broke the camel's back was i was going to

take away fifty seven fifty seven class periods for math testing and we started talking about it and they said we're not doing this so it literally grew from you know lunchroom conversation to the entire math it tired language arts department coming together and then within twenty four hours we had the whole staff on board in two thousand and one i think it might have been maybe two thousand and two maybe a little in any case right around there i was living in vermont and jim jeffords was our republican senator and i was i was writing a book. it became it's called an equal protection and i went to his office to ask about this standardized testing thing that was moving through congress he had commissioned a congressional research service study of what would be the consequences of standardized testing in the schools and they had concluded that it would have basically no positive results in the students but it would turn a one hundred million dollar year industry into a billion dollar a year industry and over that he literally left the republican party

a senator jeffords over that one issue. it has not that forecast been borne out. you know i as a math teacher for twenty years there is definitely some benefit to see how our students growth over time and there are a lot of different ways to do that standardized test is one way but it's gotten out of hand and we're here in that conversation all over the nation this test that we're talking about however and it's the only test that we're protesting is not a test that's required by the by the state it doesn't have anything to do with our kids' grades it doesn't have anything to do with our kids' graduation and we're wasting all of this time class time and resources clogging up the computer labs to give a test that gives us nothing in return and gives the kids absolutely nothing in return our kids already have to pass five state exams in order to graduate this is just an extra one that they throw at us for what you know it's ridiculous are the what are

the alternatives to standardized tests in your mind. well i think that if you ask teachers in different departments if i guess it would depend on what the point is of standardized testing if it is to measure growth and our students are learning what the required curriculum is some of my teachers would say the best way to do that is per boll leo for example in a social studies class some of my students are some of my teachers would say the best way to do that is to have kids get up and demonstrate to a group what they know what they've learned so it's a different type of the cessna there are a lot of different ideas out there some are more appropriate in some departments and some in others right now are standardized tests or testing in very limited areas so right the map test only tests in reading and math so we're talking about a very small group of teachers that are impacted directly by the test but yet it's my entire school that's impacted when i take away hours and weeks of the computer

labs to do this test that again gives us nothing i've heard a lot over the over the years about how our school through the result. our schools are are falling apart you know that our schools our educational outcomes are not as good as they were in the fifty's the sixty's the seventy's the eighty's and and and some folks suggest that that's a conflict in part the consequence of reagan's war on public education basically you know putting an anti department of education guy bill bennett in charge of the department of education and so on others suggest that it's been this this mania for standardized testing that there was no such thing back in the forty's fifty's sixty's seventy's eighty's and teachers had the time to actually spend with their kids and teach them as opposed to you know teaching to the test and testing your thoughts on that. well i think that i think that you could make a good point either way certainly there is much less time in the classroom then

there was even twenty two years ago when i started teaching and there weren't these standardized tests so as testing court nater i'm giving state exams no less than five times that here and when we do that we shut down school in the morning so that we can administer the tests and then we have a different type of schedule so probably no less than eighteen hours we're spending on standardized testing that's required now add to that the map testing i could go . i'd have to actually get up my calculator i think to figure out how many hours our teachers are losing instructional time and then add on top of that all the other reasons that there are those instructional time it's much less than when i was teaching twenty two years ago and much much less than when i was back in high school teachers are being expected to do more and more really with less and less in my opinion chris we're we're out of time we just have ten fifteen seconds left but a quick question are private schools or charter schools held to the same standard

when it comes to this kind of standardized testing as public schools. know they're not in order for those students to graduate they don't have to pass any state exams that's remark no and that that says a lot chris chris mcbride thanks so much for being with us thank you so much i appreciate it. just. it's the good the bad of the very very penn every asli arguably the good martha mccollum normally in the good bad ugly we go after fox so-called news in its assortment of talking heads for practicing phony journalism this morning in what may be a first for the network vote box host martha mccollum actually asked a republican a question and when he refused to answer she continued to press him and wouldn't let up the party congressman steve king refused to address specific spending cuts

that the republican party would support in the debt ceiling debate the column also did a great job of showing the republicans are intent on letting america default on its debt and don't have a plan b. to deal with the debt ceiling. the bad the rush limbaugh's show yesterday all rush but was in the middle of a tirade on gun control when he decided to attack lou boards and others who support responsible gun safety laws speaking about proponents of gun safety laws she believes are only would rules rush said quote the. good people they never use a gun to kill kids they use abortion for the. good ole rush making light of gun violence and fueling the war on women's rights in the same sentence looks like he's still trying hard to take back the right wing media's biggest nut jobs that a smell is jones and a very very ugly and coulter conservative pundit was on fox so-called news last night in an interview with sean hannity coulter talked about her theory behind all the gun violence and i think it was. as you know i just got back from england which

to me they have not bought into this whole diversity enthusiasm on which raises the important point that on the gun crimes we keep hearing how new they are in europe and no there's no no when they have no guns and you compare white populations we have the same rate as belgium so perhaps it's not a gun problem it is a demographic problem which liberals are the ones who are pushing pushing pushing look at more columns for the sons and more whether the guy was he shot up fort hood why are they coming in to begin with so you heard that right in the delusional my head of an coulter guns don't kill people people of color kill people over has managed to turn gun violence an issue that affects every one of us culture ethnicity and religion into a racial attack and that it's very clear. is

that she's a sandy hook a month ago a number of cities have tried to reduce the number of guns on their streets through gun buyback programs where it works is you bring in a gun in your city gives you some cash or a gift certificate to buy groceries city that destroys the guns which gets them off the streets for example reason gun buyback program in tucson city were congresswoman gabby giffords was shot and six others killed in two thousand and eleven collected more than two hundred firearms but the n.r.a. does not like this. in fact the n.r.a. is threatening to sue the tucson police department if it destroys the guns that were just bought back that's because they say the n.r.a. and other gun industry lobbyists is a lot arizona the prohibits police departments from destroying guns there apparently wholly in sacramento objects that law was first drafted by you know who it merican legislative exchange council the koch brothers alec it was then gleefully passed by the state legislature thanks to the help of twenty six

republican lawmakers who were all like members and it was probably signed last year and a law by governor jan brewer a former member of alec according to this law any guns bought back in the public can't be destroyed and instead have to be sold back to gun dealers so the n.r.a. has taken a really effective program that takes guns off the streets and turned it into a program to keep those guns on the streets and give gun dealers more profits about what you'd expect will be right back. with. technology innovations all the developments around russia. that's huge you're covered.

the worst thing. white house of the day the radio guy. i want. to give you never seen anything like this i'm told. this. story a. little more like.

the wrong. color my. current. coming out. i. and welcome back now some news coming out of the u.s. senate senate majority leader harry reid is apparently shying away from strong filibuster reform very bad news in an interview with las vegas's p.b.s. station reid threw his support behind filibuster reform but stopped short of the

nurse in the merkley you'd all plan which would actually require a filibuster in minority to stand on the floor of the senate and speak and speak and speak the entire time that they wanted to obstruct legislation under reid's plan the minority would still be able to use a silent filibuster to block debate legislation which can effectively kill the legislation so if they can block it before the debate now under reid's plan if they decide not to block it before the debate then there could be a debate and once the debate has started then the republicans would have to talk on the floor the entire time they want to filibuster before a final vote is called but why would they do that why would they let it you know why would they simply not kill it before they were forced to filibuster i mean that's that's what's so different between harry reid's plan and jeff merkley plan which would require the talking filibuster both before proceeding to debate during debate and after debate. to the difference or it's this is really quite substantial

basically without doing it the way that jeff merkley elizabeth warren and tom you dollars jesting. any republican senator can continue to blow up any legislation they want they just have to insert that hand grenade in a different part of the legislation or a different part of the process as it moves through a spokesman for senator jeff merkley said the reid plan falls short saying this approach does nothing to take on the core problem we face in the senate routine obstruction by the secret silent filibuster senator merkley will continue his discussions with leader reid and continue pushing for a real talking filibuster in any final package put together if democrats hope to accomplish anything in the senate these next two years and actually be able to present past legislation to the american people in the mid terms come around twenty fourteen which by the way is an absolute key to any kind of democratic victories in

the midterm elections are coming up in two years is for the democrats in the senate to be able to pass legislation even though it won't pass the house because the house controlled by republicans democrats pass good legislation and then go into the elections two years from now saying this is the kind of stuff we will do if you all will throw the republicans out of the house and turn the house democratic again . so if it's a very real way the democrats ability to to win in the midterm elections depends on whether or not harry reid is going to actually reform the filibuster it's absolutely crucial for harry reid to take senator jeff merkley advice and pass strong filibuster reform real filibuster reform so it helps to call your senator and put the pressure on him or to her as well but don't just call and say i want to filibuster reform because you know harry reid says well i got something called a filibuster reform and at the same time you've got john mccain out there saying all i got something called filibuster reform but none of them would block

republicans from blowing up legislation or from stopping legislation the only one that we defectively do that is the plan that's been put forward by tom udall jeff merkley elizabeth warren and you need to call both your senators. plus you live in d.c. in which case you can call any center you want may want to call so speaker or leader reid actually if you live in d.c. otherwise call both your senators and tell them that you support the talking filibuster proposal of jeff merkley because without that without forcing republicans to put their money where their mouth is to actually stand and talk and make their case we're just going to see them blow up piece of legislation after piece of legislation after a piece of. border

that. was just of stalin's personal secretary from one nine hundred twenty three to one nine hundred twenty eight he later served as the secretary of the soviet political bureau politburo his memoirs published in one thousand nine hundred you recount something stalin told him about voting stalin said i consider it completely on important who in the party will vote for how what is extremely important is this who will count the votes you know despite never having to worry about surviving popular elections or really being a fan of democracy stalin you the trick to subverting a democracy isn't in getting your people out to vote it's a piece of it but instead it's in making sure that their votes are counted in a way that makes sure that your side wins if you get one hundred percent of the population vote but if you can selectively decide which votes to count which to throw out your win every time as playwright tom stoppard quips and played jumpers

it's not the voting is democracy it's the county. now it appears the republican party has picked up homes and is preparing for their boldest maneuver yet to make sure the democrats never again win the white house how by changing the way presidential electoral votes are counted plan works like this instead of giving all of a state's electoral college votes to the popular vote winner in that state which is how we do it right now in every state in republicans want electoral college votes in a small number of states just in some states to be doled out based on who won each congressional district plus two votes going to the popular vote winner of course those congressional districts in several traditionally blue states like pennsylvania wisconsin ohio and michigan were drawn by newly elected republican state legislatures after the two thousand and ten census and they were drawn in a way that gives republicans an advantage by carving up democratic strongholds and

creating safe republican seats and safe democratic seats but known seats basically locks it up that's the republicans kept control of the house of representatives in two thousand and twelve despite the fact that house democrats won a million and a half more votes nationwide than house republicans for example last november president obama won the popular vote in wisconsin and that's received all ten of wisconsin's ten electoral college votes he won the majority the vote in the state the whole state went for it under this republican plan he would only have received one electoral college vote for each congressional district that he won since he only won three of the new gerrymandered districts therefore he would have only gotten those three votes plus two votes for winning the popular vote in the state mitt romney who won five jury mander districts. would have received five votes so under this scenario despite winning the popular vote in wisconsin by

a seven point landslide last about president obama would have walked away from the badger state with an equal number of electoral college votes as mitt romney five each now you can see why republicans like this idea with a simple tweak in how the electoral college votes are counted the big win for the president in wisconsin turns into a tie in fact had all the background the battleground states adopted this new vote counting scheme mitt romney would be our president today despite losing the popular majority vote in every single battleground state ohio wisconsin florida virginia pennsylvania michigan all those states romney lost but he would have ended up getting votes for them the way that the republicans are proposing changes the way congressional districts and several blue states are drawn today means it would be virtually impossible for a democrat to win the white house should all of these states adopt this new method of counting electoral college votes at least until two thousand and twenty when the

next census comes due and congressional districts are redrawn again as stalin said it's not about who votes it's about how the votes are counted now you might imagine an idea like this is explosive it would hand the white house over to republican one party rule and any political party that truly believes in a democracy that reflects the will of the people were never in bay embrace an election rigging scheme like this where republicans have no shame this exact idea was first proposed in two thousand and eleven by pennsylvania's republican governor tom corbett. again that's a governor proposing it and not some local crackpot party official luckily corbett abandon it before the election or else mitt romney would have won the states majority share of electoral college votes despite losing the popular vote statewide but after seeing how badly they got shellacked in november more and more prominent

republicans are voicing their support for this idea that it's basically you can't win an election fair and square than regular the idea has been revived in pennsylvania also wisconsin's governor scott walker has said he supports it and his colleague republican assembly speaker robin vos is proposing to introduce legislation in wisconsin to make it happen ohio's republican secretary of state john who used to he wants to do it there so to do republican lawmakers in the state of michigan the most shocking of all the latest endorser of this election rigging scheme is none other than the top republican party official himself r n c chair reince priebus in an interview with the milwaukee journal sentinel priebus. i have to give something that a lot of states that have been consistently blue that are controlled red need to be looking at what all this adds up to is that is this republicans are really going to

try to do this over the next two years the next four years really it's the next presidential election four years from now they really are going to try to rig the twenty sixteen election after all one of the choice they have they did trickle down economics which the american middle class now knows is just a scam that makes the rich richer and the poor poorer but since that would mean throwing away what george w. bush referred to as his base the billionaires you know that's not going to happen. republicans could just accept the issue of women's choices settled and stop trying to limit women's access to contraceptives or stop talking about legitimate rape but that might cause the religious nuts on the right who are preparing for the rapture to stop donating or even leave the republican party so that's not going to happen they can adopt a more compassionate approach to minorities in hopes of a adapting to america's changing demographics or they could just ditch their war on the new deal and accept that the majority of americans like social insurance

programs like medicare and social security. but we don't know that won't happen either. we all know that won't happen here there's too much money their banks their buddies on wall street want to get their hands on all that cash two point seven trillion dollars in the social security trust fund the truth of the matter is republicans simply aren't willing to say no to the billionaires and evolve from their pre-historic and unelectable current form into a political party that can actually build majority coalitions once again so the only option left for a party that can't win elections is to wriggle lections consider this a warning we thought we'd seen the worst but voter suppression idea laws cuts to early voting long lines intentionally set up in heavy democratic precincts and new hurdles to voter registration are nothing compared to this latest election rigging

scheme while most of us are focused on fiscal cliffs and budget battles here in washington d.c. the real fight for the future of our democracy in this republic is right now happening in state legislatures in wisconsin ohio michigan and other battleground states to badly paraphrase paul revere awaken the citizenry spread the word. and that's the way it is tonight tuesday january fifteenth two thousand and thirteen for more information to the stories we covered visit our website tom hartman dot com three speed or dot com if you missed any of tonight's show you can now watch it in h.d. on hulu and hulu dot com slash the big picture also check out our two youtube channels there are links to thom hartmann dot com also target dot com check out all the different ways you can send us your feedback and don't forget democracy begins with you get out there and get active tag your suitable.

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